Installment
[ 26 ]
Women-Owned Business Contracting
By
Richard White
Congress has established a 5-percent government-wide goal for awards to women-owned small businesses (WOSBs). Yet year after year, federal agencies fail to meet this goal. In fact, in 2001, the government awarded just 2.5 percent of federal contracting dollars to WOSBs--only HALF the stated goal!
Falling Short of the Goal
The Government Accounting Office (GAO) surveyed procurement officials and women-owned business owners to find out what the problem is. The report concluded: "Government contracting officials at all levels told us that they were generally overwhelmed by the number and complexity of the requirements of small business contracting programs and their related goals. These officials believe that the programs tend to crowd out woman-owned small businesses."
The Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Assistance Program allows contracting officers in certain circumstances to use "restricted competition" to increase contracting opportunities for WOSBs. While this program should, in theory, help contracting officers reach out to women-owned small businesses, the report suggests that the large number of small business programs diverts attention away from women-owned goals.
Undoubtedly another problem is that, while the program has a required goal set by law, there are no concomitant set-aside rules or incentives for awarding WOSB contracts. Not enough carrots; not enough sticks.
The upside, though, is this: because there's no such thing as a WOSB set-aside contract, the federal government does not require formal certification. In other words, there's less red tape. If your business meets the WOSB definition and you are submitting a proposal for the first time, you can "self-certify" that your business is a WOSB.
How do you know whether or not your business is a WOSB? The Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) defines a "women-owned small business" as follows:
Women-owned small business concern means a small business concern --
(a) which is at least 51 percent owned by one or more women; or, in the case of any publicly owned business, at least 51 percent of the stock of which is owned by one or more women; and
(b) whose management and daily business operations are controlled by one or more women. Marketing and Educating
At Fedmarket.com we often beat the drums about the importance of personal sales. WOSBs of course have to sell personally, just like any other type of business, but, given the current climate, add "educating" to the list of things to do.
When you're marketing to your target agency, try to know in advance how well that agency did in reaching the 5-percent goal in the prior fiscal year.
If your target agency is the Department of Education, for example, it might not hurt to remind your contacts there (in a nice way) that the agency awarded just over 1 percent of its contracts to WOSBs in 2001. What you'll be thinking of course is, You guys ought to be ashamed of yourselves. What comes out of your mouth is, "How can we help you do better."
Where do you find federal agency women-owned contracting information? Get your hands on the the Federal Procurement Report from the Federal Procurement Data Center, http://www.fpdc.gov/.
Or you might start with the agency's Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU). Most federal agencies have such an office with at least one designated point of contact for WOSBs. These folks can help you determine the appropriate procurement personnel to market to. They also can help you determine how the agency is doing against the 5-percent goal.
You'll find the OSDBU Directory here: http://www.sba.gov/GC/osdbu.html. For individual office homepages, use Google or FirstGov.
Suppose that you still can't find women-owned contracting statistics for an agency. Contact the agency's procurement office and just ask.
If the numbers are below 5 percent, inquire whether the agency would consider using "restricted competition" to improve its performance. Explain why the agency will be sacrificing nothing in terms of quality of product or service if your company ends up winning. In other words, your company will exceed the performance expectations in place for ANY type of business; helping the agency meet its women-owned contracting goals is a secondary benefit.
Subcontracting Opportunities
Don't forget about subcontracting opportunities. Subcontracting with an experienced prime contractor can be a great experience, not to mention an opportunity to generate revenue.
Federal procurement law requires that --
- on contracts of over $500,000 ($1,000,000 for construction of a public facility), large contractors and subcontractors submit a subcontracting plan containing percentage goals for subcontracting with small, small disadvantaged AND women-owned small businesses.
- large contractors and subcontractors describe the efforts they will make to assure that such businesses have an equitable opportunity to compete for subcontracts.
- the SBA reviews the subcontracting plan; if the large contractor or subcontractor fails to comply in good faith with the approved plan, the contractor may be terminated for default.
In selling subcontracts to prime contractors, view them as you would an agency's contracting office. Try to establish trust relationships so that primes come back to you often to meet their women-owned contracting goals.
Other Resources
http://www.womenbiz.gov/
http://www.sba.gov/womeninbusiness/selling.html
http://www.onlinewbc.gov/
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